Sunday, December 11, 2016

Jambugeswarar Temple, Sembakkam – The Temple

Jambugeswarar Temple, Sembakkam – The Temple

Jambugeswarar
Temple is situated in the Northeast corner of Sembakkam village on the bank of
a lake in a natural atmosphere. The temple is surrounded by the lake and temple
tank on the north, paddy fields on the east, Sembakkam main village and a
divine mutt on the south and reserve forest and small hill on the west. The
temple is at the end of an unpolluted calm village in an ideal location for the
peace loving spiritual seekers. The temple is a beautiful one with lot of
flower plants and trees within and outside the temple.

One nice
thing in this temple is the colour of the painting. Unlike other temples, the
temple is painted in a single colour that is eye-pleasing and gives a soothing
effect. Possibly, this could have been done due to insufficient funding but
nevertheless it is beautiful and very pleasing. The main deity is Sri
Jambugeswarar and Goddess Sri Azhagaambigai. This temple is also called Vada
Thiruvanaikkaa or Uthara Jambukeswaram as this temple also represents Water
element. Moreover, this temple is also built by the same king Ko Chenganan who
built the Thiruvanaikkaa
Sri Jambugeswarar temple.

This
beautiful temple has a wide landscape inside the compound where a beautiful
garden is maintained. Sri Jambugeswarar is facing east from a small sanctum
with Dwarapalakas guarding it. A beautiful Nandhi is facing the Lord here
towards the sanctum. There are beautiful Urchava Murthis like Sri Natarajar,
Sri Somaskandar etc., kept in the Mandapam just outside the sanctum. Goddess
Sri Azhagaambigai is facing south. At the entrance on the southern side, there
is a well just near the entrance itself. It is said that the well was created
by the Goddess itself which contains the powers of several crores of mantras.

Sri
Dhakshinamurthy, Sri Mahavishnu, Sri Brahma and Sri Durga are present around
the sanctum at their respective directions. A new Dhwajasthambham was installed
in the temple during 2008. A small, age old natural pond is found just near the
temple entrance, which is said to be the source of water to enter the Sanctum.
The temple is originally made in such a way that the water from this pond will
always be percolating inside the sanctum to keep the deity always in water. But
in later stages, as the temple has risen from the ground level, the water now
does not enter the floor of the sanctum but remains in the pond and also under
the ground level of the sanctum. Hence this Sthalam also represents ‘water’
similar to Thiruvanaikkaa.

It is
also said that this village has at least one temple every street. Many small
temples are seen on the corners of many streets here. The Sthala Viruksham for
this temple is ‘Naaval’ tree as same as Thiruvanaikkaval. In Sanskrit ‘Jambu’
means ‘Naaval fruit’, and hence the Lord here is called Sri Jambugeswarar. The
Naaval tree is present at the south east corner of the temple. The main
entrance to the temple is located in the western side of the temple. The
Sthalavruksham (Naval tree) and a Naga Sannidhi below the tree is located in
the southeast (Agni) corner of the temple.

Sundara
Vinayagar Sannidhi and a festival Hall is located to the south of the Moolavar
temple. A Big tower above the Moolavar and a small tower above the goddess
Azhagaambigai have been built. The Moolavar Lord Jambugeswarar is facing east
and the goddess Azhagaambigai is facing south. Next to the Moolavar temple, all
the Urchava Moorthigal like Somaskandar, Murugan with Valli Devayanai,
Natarajar are placed. In the next Hall, Arulmigu Selva Ganapathy, Murugan
with Devayanai and Navaveerargal are facing east.

In the
outside praharam of the Moolavar temple we have Arulmigu Dakshinamoorthy facing
south, Maha Vishnu facing west, Brahma and Durga facing north and Sandikeswarar
facing south. The Navagraha Sannidhi is located in the northeast corner and the
temple tank is located in the Northern side of the temple. The temple is
completely covered by compound wall. Arulmigu Jambugeswarar Iraipani Mandram
Azhagambigai Adheenam Sivamayapeedam building is built near the entrance. There
is no Rajagopuram for this temple.

The
temple is flanked on all four directions by famous temples. They are;

Moreover,
there are Lord Ganesha temples on the corners of every street in the Sembakkam
village. Apart from the Ganesha temples, there are lot(s) of other temples and
divine mutt in the village. In ancient times, there were 33 temples, 33 tanks
and 33 streets in the village. But due to climatic and natural evolvement, some
of the tanks have vanished and only few more are left behind. This kind of
natural environment is a unique nature of the Sembakkam village which
differentiates it from other villages in Tamilnadu.

Inner Praharam:

The
inner praharam has a separate shrine for mother Azhagambigai facing
south. Opposite to her sanctum and in the form of a well, the Amutha Theertham
is present making the number of Theerthams to two. The other one is the Agazhi
Theertham which is present in the form of a pond outside the temple. It is in
the northwest corner of the temple.

Vada Thiruvanaikka:

The
(Then) Thiruvanaikka temple near Srirangam is considered as one of the Pancha
pootha (Land, Water, Fire, Air and Space) Sthalams of Lord Shiva representing
Water. This Sembakkam temple, called Vada Thiruvanaikka also represents Water
since the Lord here is present as Jala Swayambu (Swayambu – being present on
its own; Jala – water) in the name of Jambukeswarar as in Then Thiruvanaikka
and the temple is built on top of a square water ditch. The deity is facing
east.

Goddess Azhagambigai Shrine:

It is
believed that Lord Shiva gave the power of 72000 crores of Mantras to Goddess
Azhagambigai to be given to the devotees. Since the power of it cannot be
withstood directly by the devotees, it seems that some essence of it fell as
Amutha theertham well in front of her shrine. The Goddess is facing south.

Sthalavruksham:

In the
southeast direction is present the huge and beautiful naval tree (Black naval
fruit) as Sthalavruksham. In Then Thiruvanaikka also Sthalavruksham is the
same. It is believed that doing Kundalini Yoga and other yoga/ meditations
under this tree is good for one’s spiritual uplift due to the presence of the
Siddhars here. Moreover the air from this tree believes to cure many diseases.

Theerthams:

There
are two Theerthams – Agazhi Theertham in the form of a pond outside the temple
in the northwest of the temple and Amutha Theertham in the form of a well
inside the temple in front of the Goddess shrine and created by the Goddess
Herself. The water for the worship is being taken from this well only.

Siddhars Samadhi:

Sri
Ponnambala Swamigal and Sri Thirumeni linga Swamigal lived in Sembakkam and
were called twin Siddhars since they were always seen together. They, along
with another Siddhar Sri Periya Chidhambara Swamigal (from Velachery) used to
meet at the Mylapore Chithra Kulam by the mystic act of going from one place to
the other without physically going there. The tank was called ‘Siddhar Koodam
(meeting) Kulam (pond)’ once and became Chithra Kulam later. When Ponnambala Swamigal
attained Samadhi, the very next day Thirumeni Linga Swamigal also attained
Samadhi. The Samadhi of both of them is present in front of the temple near the
Agazhi Theertham. It is learnt that a lot of handwritten notes of
Ponnambala Swamigal was preserved in Sembakkam.